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The Simon Wiesenthal Center congratulated Foreign Affairs Minister, Celso Amorim, on the election of Brazil to the UN Security Council for 2010 – 2011. In a letter to Minister Amorim, Shimon Samuels (Director for International Relations of the Wiesenthal Center) and Sergio Widder (Director for Latin America) urged that “Brazil play a key role in the promotion of world peace, democracy and international stability”.

The letter continued: “In that context, Brazil has a special opportunity in the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, scheduled for November, to condemn his pernicious calls for the destruction of Israel his Holocaust denial, and support for international terrorism”.

“Ahmadinejad protects terrorists complicity in the AMIA – Jewish Center bombing – the worst such incident in the territory of the MERCOSUR - which killed 85 people and injured hundreds. Ahmadinejad’s appointment of one of the accomplices, Ahmad Vahidi, as Minister of Defense, is a snub that will mark his visit to Brazil as a key MERCOSUR state”, stressed Samuels.

“We call on the Brazilian government to act accordingly to its role at the UN Security Council, to press for Iranian cooperation with the Argentine tribunal, as demanded by Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at the UN General Assembly”, added Widder.

For further information contact Shimon Samuels at +336 09770158, or Sergio Widder at +54911 4425-1306.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400.000 members. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS and the Latin American Parliament.